Then life took its course. I fell in love with dance and found myself on stage every night at Lincoln Center. My diagnosis of juvenile diabetes took me down another new path as I focused on nutrition and health –  anything I could do to keep on my toes.

I left the stage twenty years later and began teaching dance, staging Balanchine ballets and motivating people with diabetes. I am so grateful to have found new passions that I absolutely love, but the activist within –  the fiery kid whose voice dimmed when life took center stage – is ready to learn a new kind of dance.

My feet are pointed in the right direction: I eat organic, I recycle and I drive a hybrid car. I even just started to compost. But I’m feeling the need to do more.

So … two of my best friends, Denise and Randy Ritchie recently took their successful landscaping/construction company and went completely green and sustainable. They, too, are artists – writers who found themselves owning this company. I was so excited and proud that the first thing out of my mouth besides, “that’s fantastic,” was “how can I somehow be involved?”

My first event with “eco-partners”  was at the Wallflower Organic and Eco Festival at Malibu’s Legacy Park. Hosted by Ed Begley Jr. in October, the event featured green technologies, speakers on living a green lifestyle and many vendors like “ours” – great companies, all aiming to help us live environmentally on this planet. There was even live entertainment on a solar panel stage, a moving aquarium and organic food for vegetarians and chicken eaters as well.  What a great day. I don’t know how far people came or if they were mostly Malibu locals, but there were plenty of conscious, committed people that warmed my heart and gave me hope.

There were so many great companies there doing wonderful things for us all, with products to make living green easy. I looked to my left and there was William Wendling, the Oxygen Ozone guy who installed my water filtration system two years ago. I call him Boy Genius and couldn’t do justice trying to explain what the purification system on my faucet does. In my words it takes everything bad out and then puts the good stuff back in, unlike reverse osmosis that doesn’t re-mineralize. My shower water has no chlorine and whatever else is harmful. I’ve been thrilled with my water and was happy to run into him to rave about it.

I bought Ed Begley’s carpet cleaner and all-purpose household spray because the product looks great, but I also wanted to talk to him and thank him for the great work he does. I bought Nutiva coconut oil (incredibly yummy) for healthy cooking at high temperatures.

Then I met a woman called Lucy who gave us some dark chocolate infused with herbs from the rainforest (as a return gift for the organic edible herb plants we were giving out). I usually don’t go there with my diabetes since I’m not a one-bite person, but the “oh my God’s” from Denise and Randy got us to her booth for some bigger purchases. While Denise purchased tea and chocolate I eyed the rainforest herbs (Health Wealth Solutions).  When I heard Lucy mention how the purchases help save the rainforest, how they have saved over one million acres so far and are aligned with 17 different tribes, I knew I had to make a purchase of my own. I was only going to buy one bottle, but left with three –  one for my pancreas and liver, one for my digestion and one for my sleeplessness (my biggest struggle). I’ve tried a lot and I can honestly say I’m sleeping deeper. I know it’s partly thanks to the herbs and maybe partly due to knowing I’m doing something to help.

There were so many others,from solar panels to alternative fuels. After 10 hours, I learned so much and got really excited about something else I never thought about: recycled water systems. It turns out my friends are the LA distributors for the Brac Greywater system. What this does is takes our laundry, bath and dishwater and recycles it into the toilet, the yard or both. Doing this will save 1/3 of the water we all use. The average family wastes 60 gallons of water a day. Why didn’t I know about this?!

As I meandered through the booths (secretly heading back to the hemp seeds where I ate the best pesto I’ve had in years) I started dreaming about finding a way to bring my passions in life – dance, food and public speaking –  closer to the earth than to the stage.

Next thing I know I’m at a booth for the Calmont School where a group of parents who have bought 20 acres at the Cottontail Ranch in the canyon are looking for a team to create an

My new dance has begun. I’m backstage warming up. When the curtain rises, you’ll be sure to hear.